Hi List, can someone please give me a pointer to a how-to to generate a live CD? I am not interested in just using the live CDs that are out there, i.e., SuSE's or knoppix or others. Rather I'd like to make my own, or preferably start with SuSE's live CD and modify it to add some software of my own to it. Thanks a lot, Alex.
Alex Angerhofer wrote:
Hi List,
can someone please give me a pointer to a how-to to generate a live CD? I am not interested in just using the live CDs that are out there, i.e., SuSE's or knoppix or others. Rather I'd like to make my own, or preferably start with SuSE's live CD and modify it to add some software of my own to it.
What happens, if you create an iso file of the CD, mount it read & write, make your changes and then save and write the iso to a new CD?
James I think that would work, BUT... Would it not be best if he used "dd" to create the image (iso) file? The bios would have to be set up to boot first from CD (probably already the case)? What about the MBR associated with the Live CD he would be building? Probably he should start with a boot floppy? I'm about to do the same thing. TED James Knott wrote:
Alex Angerhofer wrote:
Hi List,
can someone please give me a pointer to a how-to to generate a live CD? I am not interested in just using the live CDs that are out there, i.e., SuSE's or knoppix or others. Rather I'd like to make my own, or preferably start with SuSE's live CD and modify it to add some software of my own to it.
What happens, if you create an iso file of the CD, mount it read & write, make your changes and then save and write the iso to a new CD?
Ted Hilts wrote:
James
I think that would work, BUT...
Would it not be best if he used "dd" to create the image (iso) file? The bios would have to be set up to boot first from CD (probably already the case)?
You normally use dd to create an iso.
What about the MBR associated with the Live CD he would be building? Probably he should start with a boot floppy?
I'm not sure of the implications on the MBR, of modifying the disk contents. I just offered some suggestions, which I haven't tried. However, given that blank CDs are so cheap, it doesn't cost much to experiment.
On Sat, 2005-01-01 at 20:19 -0500, James Knott wrote:
Ted Hilts wrote:
James
I think that would work, BUT...
Would it not be best if he used "dd" to create the image (iso) file? The bios would have to be set up to boot first from CD (probably already the case)?
You normally use dd to create an iso.
You normally use mkisofs if you want a liveCD that at least boots
What about the MBR associated with the Live CD he would be building? Probably he should start with a boot floppy?
I'm not sure of the implications on the MBR, of modifying the disk contents.
The MBR does not even need to be touched. Things to have in mind when building the iso are that the distro will actually run from RAM, so pay attention to initrd and fstab entries. Josephine
On Saturday 01 January 2005 06:48 pm, Ted Hilts wrote:
James
I think that would work, BUT...
Would it not be best if he used "dd" to create the image (iso) file? The bios would have to be set up to boot first from CD (probably already the case)? What about the MBR associated with the Live CD he would be building? Probably he should start with a boot floppy?
I'm about to do the same thing.
TED
James Knott wrote:
Alex Angerhofer wrote:
Hi List,
can someone please give me a pointer to a how-to to generate a live CD? I am not interested in just using the live CDs that are out there, i.e., SuSE's or knoppix or others. Rather I'd like to make my own, or preferably start with SuSE's live CD and modify it to add some software of my own to it.
What happens, if you create an iso file of the CD, mount it read & write, make your changes and then save and write the iso to a new CD?
in the suse admin guide there is a section on how to do what you want. My version is found in /usr/share/docs/adminguide. richard
What about this ?
http://www.linux-live.org/
Regards,
Rob.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Atcheson"
On Saturday 01 January 2005 06:48 pm, Ted Hilts wrote:
James
I think that would work, BUT...
Would it not be best if he used "dd" to create the image (iso) file? The bios would have to be set up to boot first from CD (probably already the case)? What about the MBR associated with the Live CD he would be building? Probably he should start with a boot floppy?
I'm about to do the same thing.
TED
James Knott wrote:
Alex Angerhofer wrote:
Hi List,
can someone please give me a pointer to a how-to to generate a live CD? I am not interested in just using the live CDs that are out there, i.e., SuSE's or knoppix or others. Rather I'd like to make my own, or preferably start with SuSE's live CD and modify it to add some software of my own to it.
What happens, if you create an iso file of the CD, mount it read & write, make your changes and then save and write the iso to a new CD?
in the suse admin guide there is a section on how to do what you want. My version is found in /usr/share/docs/adminguide.
richard
-- Check the headers for your unsubscription address For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the archives at http://lists.suse.com Please read the FAQs: suse-linux-e-faq@suse.com
On Sun, 2 Jan 2005, Robert Rozman wrote:
What about this ?
Regards,
Rob: thanks for the link. I am following up on this now. Actually, there is something out there that seems even more close to what I want to do here: http://dirk.eddelbuettel.com/quantian.html However, it is a pity that none of these appear to support the 2.6.x kernels, yet. Best regards, Alex.
On Sun, 2 Jan 2005, Richard Atcheson wrote: ...
James Knott wrote:
Alex Angerhofer wrote:
Hi List,
can someone please give me a pointer to a how-to to generate a live CD? I am not interested in just using the live CDs that are out there, i.e., SuSE's or knoppix or others. Rather I'd like to make my own, or preferably start with SuSE's live CD and modify it to add some software of my own to it.
What happens, if you create an iso file of the CD, mount it read & write, make your changes and then save and write the iso to a new CD?
in the suse admin guide there is a section on how to do what you want. My version is found in /usr/share/docs/adminguide.
richard
Hi Richard, thanks for sharing. You are probably referring to the "create boot cds" section (chapter 7.7) in the admin guide, which by the way is located at /usr/share/doc/manual/suselinux-adminguide_en/html on my system and best accessed through the susehelp system. My understanding of the procedure described there is that this will just make a boot cd that will eventually bring up the system that is already installed on your hard drive, and *not* a liveCD, i.e., not what I want. If I didn't get your point or you have other info that I missed, please, let me know. Best regards, Alex.
On Sun, 2005-01-02 at 10:43 -0500, Alex Angerhofer wrote:
can someone please give me a pointer to a how-to to generate a live CD? I am not interested in just using the live CDs that are out there, i.e., SuSE's or knoppix or others. Rather I'd like to make my own, or preferably start with SuSE's live CD and modify it to add some software of my own to it.
http://featherlinux.berlios.de/remastering.html http://wiki.sourcemage.org/index.php?page=HOWTO-Source+Mage+LiveCD http://www.stirnimann.com/mystuff/doc/knoppix.txt http://wiki2.archlinux.org/index.php/Build your own live CD? action=BackLinks Also, you will need docs to fit more than 700Mb on a CD: cloop: http://am.xs4all.nl/phpwiki/index.php/cloop or squashfs: http://www.artemio.net/projects/linuxdoc/squashfs/SquashFS-HOWTO.html#overvi... Suse LiveCDs and knoppix use cloop. If you want to make a liveCD from a slackware installation, you might want to take a look here: http://slax.linux-live.org/documentation.php If you want to make a liveCD from mandrake, look here: http://www.linuxminicd.org/mklivecd/ Good luck Josephine
On Sunday 02 January 2005 10:43 am, Alex Angerhofer wrote:
You are probably referring to the "create boot cds" section (chapter 7.7) in the admin guide, which by the way is located at /usr/share/doc/manual/suselinux-adminguide_en/html on my system and best accessed through the susehelp system. My understanding of the procedure described there is that this will just make a boot cd that will eventually bring up the system that is already installed on your hard drive, and *not* a liveCD, i.e., not what I want.
If I didn't get your point or you have other info that I missed, please, let me know.
Best regards, Alex.
Do a google search for 'Bernhards bootable cd'. Works well. Makes a cd out of your current system.
On Sat, 1 Jan 2005, James Knott wrote:
Alex Angerhofer wrote:
Hi List,
can someone please give me a pointer to a how-to to generate a live CD? I am not interested in just using the live CDs that are out there, i.e., SuSE's or knoppix or others. Rather I'd like to make my own, or preferably start with SuSE's live CD and modify it to add some software of my own to it.
What happens, if you create an iso file of the CD, mount it read & write, make your changes and then save and write the iso to a new CD?
It's actually not that easy. I already did that and found a cloop image which I was able to mount and take a look at. There seem to be several layers of things that need to be done. I think I have to first find out how to alter the contents in the cloop image, then how to generate the cloop image afterwards, then how to bypass the md5 checksum procedure and finally make a bootable CD image out of it again. Best regards, Alex.
Alex Angerhofer a écrit :
Hi List,
can someone please give me a pointer to a how-to to generate a live CD? I am not interested in just using the live CDs that are out there, i.e., SuSE's or knoppix or others. Rather I'd like to make my own, or preferably start with SuSE's live CD and modify it to add some software of my own to it.
Thanks a lot, Alex.
try : http://linux-live.org regards Regis
See copy of email from Josephine. I am still checking out the references Josephine provided. I am trying to create a live CD based on my SuSE 9.1 installation. I am beginning this effort by using Live CD's obtained as cover disks from from the "Linux Format" magazine as well as the "Linux Magazine". The "Linux Format" magazine #LXF61 -- Christmas 2004 -- has SUSE Linux 9.2 self booting cover disk. Next month they may have have the 64-bit version as a cover disk. The Linux SUSE 9.2 Live evaluation dvd that came with "Linux Format" magazine features 4 desktops (KDE, GNOME, FVWM, and TWM. The cd version only has KDE. The SUSE Live CD's work slightly different than the Knoppix based ones and because of this require a larger amount of memory. The DVD version requires a minimum of 384 just to boot else you will witness a kernel panic. But the SUSE Live cd or dvd runs notable faster than the others. The SUSE DVD version also has boot choices and a login screen where you can choose your desktop. The "admin" desktop choice takes you directly into YAST. Now you can create an ISO image from the DVD using the command line: sh /mnt/cdrom/Distros/SUSE/mkiso /ISO_images/image_file Here "/ISO_images/image_file" is the pathway on your hard disk drive where you want to locate the ISO image. "mkiso" is some kind of script that figures out where and what to create into an ISO image. I will have to take a good look at the DVD in order to figure out the where and what. The magazine instructions indicated that using this command line one would be able to make their own SUSE Live DVD image and have 2.7GB of DVD space left for other files. The instructions go like this: To create the DVD image from Linux, open a terminal and type: sh /mnt/cdrom/Distros/SUSE/mkiso This will create a 1.3GB ISO image in the current directory (of else provide the path of the desired directory as an arguement. They leave out the part where you ADD files -- that is why I have to determine what is actually used as input to mkiso becuase I want to add server stuff. I may run into a problem with server stuff such as nfs and other servers. In Josephines material (further down) special software needs to be compiled into the kernel. In addition, Knoppix allows for various extensions from the DVD to the hard drive (in what is called a HOME directory) which SUSE does not allow for. In other words, once the DVD is blasted the curtain shuts on additions. What I am after is a combination "backup" and also a way of turning another machine instantly into "my installation setup for SuSE Linux 9.1". That is why I want to be able to utilize some hard drive realestate that will work with my DVD. Now this also provides a support mechanism to help others who were unsuccessful with a FULL installation (desktops and servers). This way we could learn from each others installations by examining the /etc configurations and observing the system behavior, etc. SUSE support is, quite frankly, extremely lacking in the server area and you have to BUY their Enterprise version in order to get any meaningful support. The magazine also explains how to accomplish the same thing from within Windows. Does anyone out there know how to make SUSE do what KNOPPIX already does -- regarding a DVD utilizing some user defined amount of disk space???? On Sun, 2005-01-02 at 10:43 -0500, Alex Angerhofer wrote:
> > >> can someone please give me a pointer to a how-to to generate a live CD? > > >> I am not interested in just using the live CDs that are out there, i.e., > > >> SuSE's or knoppix or others. Rather I'd like to make my own, or > > >> preferably > > >> start with SuSE's live CD and modify it to add some software of my > > >> own to > > >> it.
> >
http://featherlinux.berlios.de/remastering.html http://wiki.sourcemage.org/index.php?page=HOWTO-Source+Mage+LiveCD http://www.stirnimann.com/mystuff/doc/knoppix.txt http://wiki2.archlinux.org/index.php/Build your own live CD? action=BackLinks Also, you will need docs to fit more than 700Mb on a CD: cloop: http://am.xs4all.nl/phpwiki/index.php/cloop or squashfs: http://www.artemio.net/projects/linuxdoc/squashfs/SquashFS-HOWTO.html#overvi... Suse LiveCDs and knoppix use cloop. If you want to make a liveCD from a slackware installation, you might want to take a look here: http://slax.linux-live.org/documentation.php If you want to make a liveCD from mandrake, look here: http://www.linuxminicd.org/mklivecd/ Good luck Josephine Regis FLORET wrote:
Alex Angerhofer a écrit :
Hi List,
can someone please give me a pointer to a how-to to generate a live CD? I am not interested in just using the live CDs that are out there, i.e., SuSE's or knoppix or others. Rather I'd like to make my own, or preferably start with SuSE's live CD and modify it to add some software of my own to it.
Thanks a lot, Alex.
try : http://linux-live.org
regards
Regis
On Thu, 2005-01-06 at 12:18 -0700, Ted Hilts wrote:
They leave out the part where you ADD files -- that is why I have to determine what is actually used as input to mkiso becuase I want to add server stuff. I may run into a problem with server stuff such as nfs and other servers. In Josephines material (further down) special software needs to be compiled into the kernel. In addition, Knoppix allows for various extensions from the DVD to the hard drive (in what is called a HOME directory) which SUSE does not allow for. In other words, once the DVD is blasted the curtain shuts on additions. What I am after is a combination "backup" and also a way of turning another machine instantly into "my installation setup for SuSE Linux 9.1". That is why I want to be able to utilize some hard drive realestate that will work with my DVD. Now this also provides a support mechanism to help others who were unsuccessful with a FULL installation (desktops and servers). This way we could learn from each others installations by examining the /etc configurations and observing the system behavior, etc. SUSE support is, quite frankly, extremely lacking in the server area and you have to BUY their Enterprise version in order to get any meaningful support. The magazine also explains how to accomplish the same thing from within Windows.
Does anyone out there know how to make SUSE do what KNOPPIX already does -- regarding a DVD utilizing some user defined amount of disk space????
i tried in the past weeks, before this thread was started, a remaster of suse's liveCD (kde, but flavour doesn't matter). Remaster, meaning my kernel, my applications, my patches in a suse system burned into a cd. I did try to follow suse's way of creating the master, but no luck. The issues that came up and not from config files, as you can import in your master fstab and shadow and passwd, but from kernel and mostly, initrd. It also seems like the master is built using a specific list of applications, and not from a harddisk installed version of suse. So modifying the cloop image or the initrd ended up in kernel panics and other strange boot errors. Suse LiveCD works faster that knoppix because it's initrd is huge (94MB compressed with cpio- never understood why use cpio and not an ext2fs and gziped initrd like most distributions use) and almost half from the distro is loaded in ram at boot time. On the other hand, knoppix has a 4MB compressed initrd. Quite a difference. I am now using the knoppix way of making a live from suse. I am in a beta phase, like using almost unmodified scripts from Knoppix cd, but already with more luck that all the time i tried building it after a suse liveCD. So my advice would be: stop thinking the suse liveCD schema. Start from a knoppix one, with knoppix initrd and kernel. As the subject becomes even more interesting and different views might help us all in finding the best way of making liveCD-s from suse, perhaps someone is willing to open up a wikki or forum to develop there the ideas and thoughts. Josephine
Josphine I may sound stupid saying this but I don't know "exactly" what is a WIKKI other than it is just a bunch of inputs and opinions much like a forum. You tell me how a WIKKI should work and I will implement one within which we can all participate. But this would be JUST for LIVE CDs and DVDs and any directly related issues and would not exclude any distribution. It might be a good idea if we could get some volunteers to help build the web site portion that serves as a WIKKI, otherwise you will get an architecture that may not work well. It would obviously need to be partitioned into sections, etc. Hope this meets with your approval. TED Josephine wrote:
On Thu, 2005-01-06 at 12:18 -0700, Ted Hilts wrote:
They leave out the part where you ADD files -- that is why I have to determine what is actually used as input to mkiso becuase I want to add server stuff. I may run into a problem with server stuff such as nfs and other servers. In Josephines material (further down) special software needs to be compiled into the kernel. In addition, Knoppix allows for various extensions from the DVD to the hard drive (in what is called a HOME directory) which SUSE does not allow for. In other words, once the DVD is blasted the curtain shuts on additions. What I am after is a combination "backup" and also a way of turning another machine instantly into "my installation setup for SuSE Linux 9.1". That is why I want to be able to utilize some hard drive realestate that will work with my DVD. Now this also provides a support mechanism to help others who were unsuccessful with a FULL installation (desktops and servers). This way we could learn from each others installations by examining the /etc configurations and observing the system behavior, etc. SUSE support is, quite frankly, extremely lacking in the server area and you have to BUY their Enterprise version in order to get any meaningful support. The magazine also explains how to accomplish the same thing from within Windows.
Does anyone out there know how to make SUSE do what KNOPPIX already does -- regarding a DVD utilizing some user defined amount of disk space????
i tried in the past weeks, before this thread was started, a remaster of suse's liveCD (kde, but flavour doesn't matter). Remaster, meaning my kernel, my applications, my patches in a suse system burned into a cd. I did try to follow suse's way of creating the master, but no luck. The issues that came up and not from config files, as you can import in your master fstab and shadow and passwd, but from kernel and mostly, initrd. It also seems like the master is built using a specific list of applications, and not from a harddisk installed version of suse. So modifying the cloop image or the initrd ended up in kernel panics and other strange boot errors. Suse LiveCD works faster that knoppix because it's initrd is huge (94MB compressed with cpio- never understood why use cpio and not an ext2fs and gziped initrd like most distributions use) and almost half from the distro is loaded in ram at boot time. On the other hand, knoppix has a 4MB compressed initrd. Quite a difference. I am now using the knoppix way of making a live from suse. I am in a beta phase, like using almost unmodified scripts from Knoppix cd, but already with more luck that all the time i tried building it after a suse liveCD. So my advice would be: stop thinking the suse liveCD schema. Start from a knoppix one, with knoppix initrd and kernel.
As the subject becomes even more interesting and different views might help us all in finding the best way of making liveCD-s from suse, perhaps someone is willing to open up a wikki or forum to develop there the ideas and thoughts.
Josephine
I've Google'd and searched elsewhere but can't find an answer to my problem. YOU doesn't come up with any mirror URLs and I have to wait ages until it comes up with a message saying so and "invites" me to put one in. I have reinstalled 2 times but the fault re-appears - perhaps a faulty install DVD? Is there a source file for YOU I can edit with a few urls. The one that I have been using each time I try to update is: ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse TIA -- Hatherleigh Devon A GNU/Linux user
On Thu, 2005-01-06 at 16:20 -0700, Ted Hilts wrote:
Josphine
I may sound stupid saying this but I don't know "exactly" what is a WIKKI other than it is just a bunch of inputs and opinions much like a forum. You tell me how a WIKKI should work and I will implement one within which we can all participate. But this would be JUST for LIVE CDs and DVDs and any directly related issues and would not exclude any distribution. It might be a good idea if we could get some volunteers to help build the web site portion that serves as a WIKKI, otherwise you will get an architecture that may not work well. It would obviously need to be partitioned into sections, etc.
Hope this meets with your approval.
TED
Well, a wiki is a website that allows a user to add content, as on an Internet forum, but also allows that content to be edited by anyone. But it might be a better idea to implement first a forum, with dedicated sections (like kernel issues, image issues, compression techniques-cloop, squashfs etc) and lots of brainstorming; and then, when results start to appear, we could add another section for scripts, iso-s etc. I can also keep all this on my server, but my upload is just 368Kb (for the beginning, is more that enough, the problem will appear if i host files, but i can arrange a mirror with a larger bandwidth). I will move this discussion on private mails and if anyone else is interested can send me a mail. Josephine
participants (9)
-
Alex Angerhofer -
Bruce Marshall -
David Bell -
James Knott -
Josephine -
Regis FLORET -
Richard Atcheson -
Robert Rozman -
Ted Hilts